Colorful Granada
Granada bound, we board the ferry at Moyogalpa in the nick of time. Entering Granada, cheerful, colorful homes brighten up the scene: brick reds, eggplant purple, turquoise blue, sunflower gold—mostly loud ornate colors (An HOA nightmare) with an occasional beige house for contrast. Our Airbnb was named Quinta Rosa and behind a rosy pink flat wall our home extended for almost half an acre. We booked it through GPS and Elizabeth Cortez never faltered with our numerous requests for information.
Islets on Lake Nicaragua
A tour of the islets on Lake Nicaragua only confirmed my awe of this crazy cool geography of Nicaragua. Granada sits on the shore of Lake Nicaragua and there are 365 islets or tiny islands created by a violent eruption of Mombacho Volcano thousands of years ago. Along the wharf, there are several boats for hire to explore the teeny tiny islands. We took off in a panga, GPS arranged for us. The first thing you notice is the variety. Some islets have mansions, others modest homes, and others are uninhabited with a few palm trees—many can be rented. We considered renting an Airbnb there, but arranging transportation would have been sketchy. The wildlife included a migratory bird called Montezuma Oropendula who build woven nests that look a little like beige macramé hanging baskets dangling from the tree branches.
Montezuma Oropendola
With rusty red bodies, they stand out with their bright yellow tail feathers. Monkey island entertained with its friendly spider monkeys although we felt bad they were captive in their own form of a landlocked zoo.
On our way out, our captain stopped and picked an innocuous looking tube from a tree. He presented it to me and had me pull out its center section which emerged to be an incredible natural red sparkle.
Laguna de Apoyo
Laguna de Apoyo is part of the crater lake we had viewed on our first day at the Caterina Viewpoint. It’s a beautiful natural lagoon with green clear water, the warmest we’d encountered for the entire trip. For a modest entrance fee, the Laguna Beach Club provided shade, hammocks, beach chairs iwth unlimited kayaking and paddleboarding. A super relaxing jewel.
Tour of Granada
Our last day in Granada and the last day of 2017, it was finally time to put this country into perspective. A guide named Jairo recommended by GPS took us on a walking tour of El Centro. The highlight was the Convento de San Francisco converted into a museum. 
The first salon of murals told the history of Nicaragua and the familiar tale of the Spaniards’ arrival signifying brutality and enslavement of the indigenous people.
The Curious Case of William Walker
Named after the city in Spain, the Spaniards veered from civil war to civil war, the conservatives vs. the liberals. This was especially true in 1856. William Walker, a U. S. physician, lawyer, and mercenary seized an opportunity to weasel his way into the presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua satisfying his dream to conquer Latin America and create new slave states to add to those already in the U. S. Before he succeeded in becoming president in Nicaragua, he tried it in Mexico but because of resistance, he retreated. After a series of skirmishes, William Walker conducted a fraudulent election win where he was elected president of Nicaragua and immediately declared it a slave state. This ironically brought together the conservatives and liberals to join forces along with surrounding countries’ armies to combat this “American pirate.” He was captured, but not before his men carried out orders to burn and flatten Granada into ruins. He was executed by firing squad in Honduras at the age of 36 in 1857. In case you are thinking this would make an incredible movie, Ed Harris starred as Walker in a 1985 movie which tanked—I guess the whole premise seemed too preposterous. The tour concluded with a small shopping spree in the town zocalo.
Happy 2018
That night we celebrated the arrival of 2018 with fireworks at the Calzada, a promenade street dedicated to outdoor restaurants. 
All in all, Granada provided a satisfying ending to our journey through Nicaragua. If we had more time, we would definitely visit the Masaya Volcano for its nighttime lava show. While Granada is not as compact and lovely as colonial San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, we were sad to depart especially since our driver arrived promptly at 4:00 AM New Years Day to drive us to the Managua Airport.